Tearful couple forced to sit next to dead passenger on long haul flight to Italy

Express UK ^ | 2/25/25 | Lauran O'Toole

[DallasBiff]

The couple's once in a lifetime holiday was overshadowed when a woman died mid flight and was placed in the seat next to them.

An emotional Australian couple have been left "traumatised" after they were forced to sit next to a dead woman for hours after she died suddenly mid-flight.

Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin were on a Qatar Airways flight from Melbourne to Doha, en route to Venice in Italy, when a woman suddenly collapsed in the aisle after going to the toilet.

[alexander_busek]

I have put up with a lot on flights but I would not just accept a dead passenger being moved from their original seat to one next to me.

Maybe the original seat was in the Emergency Exit Row.

To sit there, you have to be able to follow instructions, etc.

They should have put the dead lady next to the crying baby.

Regards,

[alexander_busek]

So I guess there were no empty overhead bins.

"Please be careful when opening the overhead bins. The contents of the bins may have shifted during flight, and a dead body might fall out onto you!"

Regards,

[alexander_busek]

So for 168 total deaths, are aircraft builders and airlines going to go to the probably huge cost of designing, building, training staff, etc... for on-board morgues/caskets/cold storage? Probably not

You've already pointed out that in-flight medical emergencies are far more common, and yet airlines don't have medical doctors on hand to deal with them. Instead, the pilot will usually just ask, over the PA system, if there are any medical doctors on board who could "help out."

By the same token, the pilot could instead ask, "If there anyone on board with experience as a mortician or orderly in a morgue?"

In my opinion, the whole matter could be dealt with far more expediently by designing all aircraft to have a chute for such exigencies.

If the aircraft were flying over water, it could even be regarded as "burial at sea."

Regards,

[Gaffer]

Policy should be to move the couple to empty seats, upgrade them if needed. If that’s not possible, they couple should get ticket refunds.

[rlmorel]

That is a reasonable solution, that even people with weak bladders could get on board with!